New Zealand Wars

New Zealand Wars: Timeline

Governor-General Robert FitzRoy launched an investigation of the Wairau Affray in 1844 and declared that the settlers had been at fault, but this was just the start of the New Zealand Wars, let's examine the key moments.

For over ten years, a series of wars broke out across the North Island, prompting even more aggressive land-grabbing and harsh enforcement of British sovereignty over New Zealand, resulting in an end to organized resistance in 1872.

New Zealand Wars: Map

As evidenced by the map, much of the fighting occurred on the North Island, where the majority of Māori land could be found. This gives an idea of the sheer decimation of land and culture that took place! Now we will look at some key moments of the New Zealand Wars.

New Zealand Māori Wars

In March 1845 Māori rangatira Hōne Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti rebelled against new British Governor George Grey, citing various issues with the Treaty of Waitangi as their reason for rebelling. Warriors of the two chiefs defeated British and pro-British Māori forces under chief Tāmati Wāka Nene in the Battle of Ōhaeawai in July 1845, in what was known as the Flagstaff War or the Northern War. Kawiti’s fortress at Ruapekapeka was the site of a surprise counterattack by Nene and the British.

After Hōne Heke sustained an injury, so he and Kawiti sought peace. Governor Grey, following the advice of his ally chief Nene, accepted peace without taking any punitive measures against the rebels, ending the war in January 1846.

Fig. 1 - Te Ahuahu, a battleground of the Northern War

The First Taranaki and Waikato Wars

The years immediately following the Flagstaff War saw several more incidents similar to the Wairau Affray. Once more, settlers attempted to enforce their ownership of lands that had been purchased through disputed land contracts and were met with resistance. One localized conflict sometimes called the Wanganui War was settled by the Governor in 1848 through a peace deal, after which followed a period until 1860 that was mostly free of larger-scale conflict.

As a result, Governor George Grey finally decided to enact Gore Browne's plan to invade the north island in mid-1863. He requested the central government in London to send him at least 10,000 troops, and they obliged, sending General Duncan Cameron to lead an expeditionary force to New Zealand. Grey ordered an ultimatum be given to the Māori in northern New Zealand to swear an oath of fealty to the British Queen Victoria or be exiled to the south. His ultimatum was largely refused, and the Māori conducted a series of raids against his forces.

After a series of major battles, the numerically superior British forces captured the Kīngitanga capital in December 1863 and conquered the rest of Waikato by April 1864. The Kīngitanga retreated deeper into the interior of the North Island. The emboldened British government chose to confiscate large swathes of land, prompting further rebellions.

The Second Taranaki and East Cape Wars

The period from 1863 through 1866 is sometimes known as the Second Taranaki War, in which various Māori uprisings took place in response to British land confiscation and deliberate government delays to resolve existing land disputes.

A popular religious movement known as Hauhau sought to unify the Māori and was fervently opposed to British land confiscations. A Hauhau-motivated killing of European missionary Carl Volkner resulted in a punitive expedition by colonial forces. This became a series of small battles known as the East Cape War, in which the colonial government sought to crush the popularity of the Hauhau movement.

Defiant Māori Leaders

In the late 1860s, Māori rangatiras Riwha Titokowaru and Te Kooti were angry with their king, whose resolve against the colonialists was weakening. Therefore, they led organized attacks and raids against European settlers who occupied confiscated lands.

Fig. 2 - A view of Poverty Bay today

Let's examine each of their causes and how their rebellions failed.

Te Kooti hid among the Tūhoe tribe, whilst being hunted down by British and Māori, due to the bounty on his head. He finally had asylum granted by the Māori king in 1872 and was later pardoned by the imperial government in 1883.

Having given up the fight in 1872 he spent the rest of his life in religious service. With the end of Te Kooti’s rebellion, the era of the New Zealand wars drew to a close, with no subsequent major rebellions or uprisings taking place against the British Empire.

New Zealand Wars: Outcome

The New Zealand Wars resulted in the confiscation of a large portion of Māori land in New Zealand—mainly on the North Island—by the British Empire. It also resulted in the establishment of the Māori monarchy, an institution that continues to exist to the present day, and disagreements between tribes.

Ultimately, the slow erosion of land and property had a domino effect. It meant that resistance would be less and less meaningful, with the seizing of land amounting to the seizing of identity, which proved difficult to salvage without its traditional characteristics.

Fig. 3 - Auckland memorial to the New Zealand Wars